Doug, Your photos are awsome! Your post also led me to the likely I.D. of a moth that came to my porch light last night. I haven't had time to work it yet. Larry McDaniel Johnson City, TN From: s137@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To: tn-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [tn-moths] Live moth microscopy Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 17:03:42 -0500 The only moths appearing at my porch light recently have been Toothed Phigalias. (Note to Jean: not FOY.) The variability of their markings is interesting, so I have been photographing every individual to compare them. These moths are very lethargic, probably because of the temperature, so it's been feasible to move them indoors briefly for photography. This morning I had just finished shooting the latest arrival when my eye fell on the microscope on the other side of the table. Hmm. Surely this moth's docility wouldn't extend to allowing photomicroscopy? I don't have an adaptor for mating the camera to the microscope, but I found that the camera could be reasonably stabilized on top of a custom-built stack of books in front of the eyepiece. Amazingly, a single nudge with a jeweler's screwdriver encouraged the moth to climb onto the middle of a microscope slide, where it immediately resumed its complete motionlessness. Low magnification (40x plus some random amount of camera optical zoom): http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/DougLepidoptera/2010%20Moths/06659AndersonCo06Feb2010Micro1.jpg Higher magnification (100x plus some random amount of camera optical zoom): http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/DougLepidoptera/2010%20Moths/06659AndersonCo06Feb2010Micro2.jpg I returned this individual outdoors to a sheltered mound of dry leaves, hopefully unharmed by the temperature changes. Doug Bruce Oak Ridge, TN Anderson Co. _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469228/direct/01/